enable students
to analyze the way in which clarity of meaning is affected by the patterns
of organization, irony, tone, mood, the author’s style, the “sound”
of language, imagery, personification, figures of speech, and other
techniques used by the author.

present students
with the philosophical, political, religious, ethical, and social influences
of the historical period that shaped the characters, plots and, settings
or the work.

prepare students
to handle the rigors of a university course and to pass the AP exam

Hamlet, Prince of Denmark
and The Tragedy of Othello by William Shakespeare

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern
are Dead by Tom Stoppard

Novels:

Beloved by Toni Morrison

Crime and Punishment
by Fyodor Dostoevsky

Reading

An AP English Literature and
Composition course engages students in the careful reading and critical
analysis of imaginative literature. Through the close reading of selected
texts, students deepen their understanding of the ways writers use language
to provide both meaning and pleasure for their readers. As they read,
students consider a work’s structure, style, and themes as well as
such smaller-scale elements as the use of figurative language, imagery,
symbolism, and tone.

Reading in this course is both
wide and deep. This reading necessarily builds upon the reading done
in previous English courses. Students will read works from several genres
and periods—from sixteenth to the twenty-first century—but, more
importantly, they get to know a few works well. They read deliberately
and thoroughly, taking time to understand a work’s complexity, to
absorb its richness and meaning, and to analyze how that meaning is
embodied in literary form. In addition to considering a work’s artistry,
students reflect on the social and historical values it reflects and
embodies. Careful attention to both textual detail and historical context
provides a foundation for interpretation, whatever critical perspectives
are brought to bear on the literary works studied.

Active ReadingReading actively includes
understanding the writer’s purpose, audience, logic, and themes. Highlighting
and annotating help the reader toward understanding what is read.
Highlighting involves marking the text with symbols (underline, number,
etc.) whenever the reader comes across a particularly useful or interesting
section. Annotating involves carrying on a conversation with the text
by using marginal notes. The reader might do this by asking questions
and looking for parallels among the reading, other readings, and the
reader’s personal experiences. Questions which arise during active
reader are then answered through a more careful analysis.

Writing

“Don’t tear up the page
and start over again when you write a bad line-try to write your way
out of it. Make mistakes and plunge on…Writing is a means of discovery,
always.”

–Garrison Keillor

“Inspiration usually comes
during work, rather that before it.”–Madeleine L’ Engle

“I’ve always thought best
when I wrote.” -Toni Morrison

“Writing is a political instrument.”
– James Baldwin

“I write to find out what
I’m thinking. I write to find out who I am. I write to understand
things.” – Julia Alvarez

“To engage in imitation is
to begen to understand what originality means.” –Nicholas Delblanco

“The beautiful part of writing
is that you don’t have to get it right the first time-unlike, say,
brain surgery.” –Robert Cormier

Writing is an integral part
of course and exam. Writing assignments focus on the critical analysis
of literature and include expository, analytical, and argumentative
essays. Although critical analysis makes up the bulk of students
writing for the course, well-constructed creative writing assignments
may help students see from the inside how literature is written. Such
experiences sharpen their understanding of what writers have accomplished
and deepen their appreciation of literary artistry. The goal of both
types of writing assignments is to increase students’ ability to explain
clearly, cogently, even elegantly, what they understand about literary
works and why they interpret them as they do.

To that end, writing instruction
includes attention to developing and organizing ideas in clear, coherent,
and persuasive language. It includes study of the elements of style.
And it attends to matters of precision and correctness as necessary.
Throughout the course, emphasis is placed on helping students develop
stylistic maturity, which, for AP English, is characterized by the following:

A wide-ranging vocabulary
used with denotative accuracy and connotative resourcefulness;

A variety of sentence
structures, including appropriate use of subordinate and coordinate
constructions;

A logical organization,
enhanced by specific techniques of coherence such as repetition, transitions,
and emphasis;

A balance of generalization
with specific illustrative detail; and;

An effective use
of rhetoric, including controlling tone, maintaining a consistent voice,
and achieving emphasis through parallelism and antithesis.

The writing required in an
AP English Literature and Composition course is thus more than a mere
adjunct to the study of literature. The writing that students produce
in the course reinforces their reading. Since reading and writing stimulate
and support one another, they are taught together in order to underscore
both their reading. Since reading and writing stimulate and support
one another, they are taught together in order to underscore both their
common and their distinctive elements (AP English Course Description
2006).

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The
“9” Essay The essay is a well-organized
essay that answers the question incisively. The writer develops a valid
thesis through the use of specific and relevant references to the text.
Insight into the literature is clearly expressed using language appropriate
to literary criticism. The writer demonstrates command of the elements
of composition and analytical writing.

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We will work every day on invigorating
your writing style. You will participate in writing workshops that will
focus on improving your voice, style, diction, syntax, and structure.
We will work on improving your ability to balance observations and generalizations
with concrete details and insightful commentary. We will work on eliminating
weak verbs, wordiness, deadwood, clichés, qualifiers, synonyms, preposition
overloading, and nominalization. We will implement the writing process
to help you write logically, emphatically, concisely, coherently, and
beautifully. In order to improve your writing, the process
requires several revisions to each piece of formal writing.
Peer editing and teacher feedback
will be a major part of the process. Peer editing helps students
recognize common mistakes and ways to encourage careful analysis. Teacher
feedback further guides students toward mastery of the aforementioned
writing techniques.

For each formal writing assignment,
you will be given a specific grading rubric. We will go over the rubrics
as a class prior to beginning each assignment and again prior to submitting
a paper for a grade. Remember to consult your rubrics throughout
the entire writing process.

Students will from groups to
read and discuss the work assigned. The group will be assigned an element(s)
and/or a character(s) to analyze along with a seminar topic to research.
Each student will share their findings, insights, evidence, and observations
with the group. Each group will share their information with the class
Evaluation and assessment section

Plays-The theatre
experience is a must to help one understand the drama genre. You
will have many opportunities to attend the theatre and view plays of
literary merit for extra credit. You will write a review and complete
a literary analysis for each. You will also be able to attend the school’s
productions also.

Film-You also have
opportunities to practice your literary analysis skills by applying
your knowledge to film. You will be able to watch films and make thematic
connections to the literature read in class. You will be able to watch
the film version of the work and discuss the treatment of specific scenes.
You will also be able to use your literary analysis skills to learn
how to read a film.

Novels-You will
have the opportunity to read a novel from a selected list each quarter.
You will complete a literary analysis and compare the themes and style
of the novel to other works by that author or other works in that genre.

Others- TBA

Summer Assignment: Modern
Drama

Summer/2 weeks in class

Setting

Theme

Literary Terms

Biblical Allusions

Ibsen’s ADoll’s House

Hansberry’s A Raisin in
the Sun

Miller’s Death of a Salesman

Miller’s “Tragedy and the
Common Man”

Unit 1: Literary Criticism
and Genres: New Criticism, Historical/Social/Feminist, Archetypal/Mythic,
and Other Approaches

6 weeks

Reading (and Writing about)
Literature (DiYanni, pp. 2-13)

The Experience of Fiction,
The Interpretation of Fiction, The Evaluation of Fiction, and The Act
of Reading Fiction (Diyanni pp.21-32)

Types of Fiction (DiYanni,
pp. 37-42)

Reading Poems: The Experience
of Poetry, The Interpretation of Poetry, The Evaluation of Poetry, and
The Act of Reading Poetry (DiYanni, pp. 670-681)

Types of Poetry (DiYanni, pp.
682-685)

Critical Theory: Approaches
to the Analysis and Interpretation of Literature (DiYanni, pp.2068-2111)

Reading poetry is a “recursive
process.” In-class reading aloud of poetry, reading actively/annotating,
group discussion and analysis, and writing about a work of literature.